Without proper practice and strategy its difficult to answer “Matching Sentence Ending” correctly. In the IELTS Reading examination, you will be given around 5-6 incomplete sentences with another list of possible ending sentences. You have to match the incomplete sentences with the appropriate ending sentence based on the reading text.
By the way, This type of question is not very common as compared to some other types of IELTS Reading questions. But it’s better to know how to answer them correctly.
Question Structure- Multiple Sentence Ending
Look above at the example question sample. Here,
- 32 – 35, this is the list of incomplete sentences.
- A – F, this is the list of possible sentence endings.
- The number of possible ending sentences will be given more than the beginnings.
10 Important Tips-Multiple Sentence Ending
1) Don’t read the whole passage, just scan and skim for the relevant keyword or sentence.
2) Don’t start to read the passage until you completely studied the question first.
3) Don’t try to match the sentences using logic and common sense.
4) Don’t reuse sentence ending unless it’s specifically instructed.
5) You cannot find the exact word, so you need to understand the meaning.
6) Try to use the elimination process to select the correct answer.
7) The answers may not appear in the same order.
8) Look for the exact grammatical structure of both sentences. They just need to match.
9) There will be options that will share a connecting idea. Don’t try to answer the question only based on that.
10) Time management is also important. If you are unable to locate the answer move on to the next question.
Effective Strategies for “Matching Sentence Ending”
Using some strategies while answering the question might be useful. Among the many strategies, I found it really effective to answer the matching sentence ending. Thy to follow them step by step.
Step-1: Underline the Keywords
You should read the incomplete sentences by underlining the keywords. Keywords will help you to locate the given information when you scan the passage.
Step-2: Understand the meaning
In the passage, you may not find the exact keyword or sentence. They will always use synonyms or paraphrasing. So understanding the meaning is really important.
Step-3: Scan the Passage
After understanding the meaning, you should start scanning the passage for the keywords or synonyms. You may find the information in more than one part of the passage.
Step-4: Compare the meanings
Finding the keyword more than one time is common. There will be similar types of information given to trick you. You must eliminate the options by comparing the meanings.
Step-5: Skim the Passage
Skim the passage if it is necessary to find the correct ending sentence.
Step-6: Use Elimination Process
When you have possible options in mind which look promising to you go for the elimination process. This will help to find the correct answer.
Skills you need to develop to answer the question
- You should be able to identify the keywords.
- Should have the ability to scan and locate the keywords.
- You should be able to understand the meaning.
- Should be able to identify the synonyms and paraphrasing.
Worried about Academic IELTS test ? Knowing the question pattern will help you to get your desired band score.
